Tied Up
by starah
Summary: Missing Scene: Red X has bound both Beast Boy and Raven together in a rather uncomfortable position they need to get out of... Quick oneshot.


"We're running out of time."

Raven had to twist around awkwardly to look at Robin. His impatiently twitching expression was was partially obscured by Beastboy's waving shoes, but she could sense more than see his irritation. "Just give us a minute," She muttered, and attempted - with a sharp, swift movement - to pull her arms out from the tight red bonds.

"OWW!! Stop digging your elbows into me!!" Beastboy howled, his voice vibrating weirdly because his head was below Raven's waist. As he struggled to move his ribs away from her elbows, his back arched uncomfortably into her own. And that wasn't the only thing pressing into her.

"Beast Boy, keep your butt far, far away from my neck," Raven said through her teeth, and she felt him hastily relax and stop struggling.

"Perhaps you could change into a larger form and tear the bonds that way," Starfire suggested. Raven felt Beast Boy's head rub against her lower back as he shook it.

"If this thing keeps me when I'm a rhinoceros, then only a T-Rex might work," he said, "but if I change into that..."

"What's the problem?" Raven hissed, and he said awkwardly and hesitantly,

"Well, I could wallop you pretty hard on the head with my tail in the position we're in, you know..."

It was somewhat unexpected of him to have thought about it that far, and Raven blinked in surprise.

"Look, maybe you guys should figure a way out yourselves, and we'll go first." Cyborg said, and Robin said approvingly,

"I think that's a good idea."

Raven would rather eat a bowl of Starfire's alien snacks than admit out loud how uncomfortable being stuck with Beast Boy back to back was. It wasn't necessarily him in particular; Raven was just not a skin-shippy person in general. She could feel his heat through her cloak onto her back, and when he arched she could feel every groove of his spine press against her own. Also, he couldn't seem to stop rustling every now and then, so she was on a constant alert of his extremely close proximity.

"Dudes, you can't just leave us here!" Beast Boy's heightening voice of indignation brought Raven back to the present; she simply shot a glare at Cyborg without saying anything, and the other three Titans got the point.

"Okay, Beast Boy," Robin said curtly, "maybe you could turn into something smaller and slip out of that thing."

There was a tingling sensation behind her, and then Raven felt the cool tail of a snake slither around the nape of her neck. Chills ran involuntarily down her arms. Ignoring it best she could, Raven tried to move out of the bonds but there seemed no difference; it held on just as tightly as before. A hard, coiling movement of a thin, lithe body on her back raged for a few seconds, rapid hissing issuing from below. Then the thin mass abruptly expanded back to Beast Boy's warm solidity, and Raven was surprised to feel relieved as it pressed against her.

"Awww man!" Beast Boy whined, "This thing reminds me of the time I superglued my fingers together!"

Okay, it was time for some quick thinking, because Starfire looked like she wanted to ask him about that and no one else wanted to know. Raven did not usually go into her soul-self form unless it was absolutely necessary, but this seemed like a necessary time.

"Okay Beast Boy," She said, trying to hold his shoulder but instead brushing her fingertips against it, "I have an idea." He stopped moving, and she closed her eyes. Beast Boy let out a surprised 'meep' before he was enveloped in her soul-self, and together they transported through the floor.

In the dark rush through concrete, she was all around him, carrying him, and able to feel his emotions acutely as though he were scrawling them onto her with a knife. He was surprised, having been caught unaware, but there was no fear. There was another positive feeling in him, one that she wasn't familiar with. What was it? Confusion drifted from her through them, then light returned to their senses.

They were back in the crisp night air, and Raven unfolded her cloak to let Beastboy out. The red X was lying uselessly on the floor which they had sank through. Beastboy still looked a bit startled as he walked unevenly . "Whoa." He said.

"Alright!" Cyborg whooped, "Good thinking, Raven!"

"Let's go!" Robin exclaimed, clearly relieved they could go now, and together the Titans began moving. Before they leapt off the roof, however, Beast Boy and Raven hung back a little. He was looking rather embarrassed.

"Thanks," He said. Raven shrugged, avoiding his gaze. Did he have to look so shy? He was making her feel strange.

"Come on," she said, and moved forward, ready to fly off after the others; Starfire was holding onto Robin, and Cyborg was standing at the edge looking at Beast Boy expectantly. Just as she was ready to step off the ledge, Beast Boy said suddenly,

"Raven, why were you so surprised?"

"What?" Raven whipped around. He was looking at her, still looking a little embarrassed, but his eyes were bright and intense. He said firmly,

"I'd never be afraid of you." He abruptly turned into a pterodactyl and grabbed Cyborg's shoulders; Cyborg gave Raven a bewildered glance, but she only shrugged, still rather surprised at his words.

It seemed in that brief interlude Beast Boy had been able to sense her emotions, too. Was that the positive feeling she'd been unable to decipher? ...Had he felt that safe with her?

As Raven lifted off the ground to fly with her team, she looked at Beast Boy's flying form in the moonlight and permitted herself a tiny smile.

-fin- 


End file.
